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Pedestrians pass by the old courthouse and U.S. post office, the site of the Mob Museum, in downtown Las Vegas on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2009.
By Dave Toplikar (contact) 
Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2010 | 12:12 p.m.
Sun Coverage
- Las Vegas mob museum continues to move forward (11-18-2009)
- Not yet built, mob museum may get rival (9-11-2009)
- Goodman marks Mob Museum progress (8-4-2009)
- Mob museum contractor at odds with city (8-8-2009)
- Oh, the irony: The former mob lawyer gets FBI support for mob museum (8-17-2008)
The Las Vegas City Council quietly approved spending nearly $2 million more today for the mob museum project, which is on track to open in 2011 in the city's downtown.
But City Councilman Stavros Anthony made it clear he still doesn't like the project, which will be officially known as the Las Vegas Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement.
Anthony didn't speak out today about the project, which is estimated to cost about $50 million. But his actions were fairly loud and consistent with his past votes.
He asked to have the item pulled from the council's routine consent agenda so it could be voted on separately. Then he was the lone vote against the extra funding among the seven council members.
Anthony had also voted against additional funding for the retrofit project back in November. At that time, he had explained he could not justify spending money on such a museum.
The extra money approved today, amounting to $1,958,908, is needed to take care of some structural retrofit work on the historic 1933 federal office building and post office building at 300 Stewart, which will house the museum.
The work includes modifying the beams on the second and third floors, removing more hazardous material from the building, doing more work on the exterior plaster and courtroom ceilings and installing a new remote fire pump assembly that's needed because of failing water pressure in the downtown area, according to the city's finance and business services department.
The museum, which is expected to open in the first quarter of 2011, would tell the tale of how federal and local law enforcement officers fought the mob and eventually drove it out of Las Vegas' casinos.
The exhibits would features items from the FBI, plus artifacts from mob life, including many donated from the children and grandchildren of top members of organized crime and their underlings.
The museum has been pushed by the city's mayor, former high-profile mob lawyer Oscar Goodman, and by the FBI.
Councilman Ricki Y. Barlow, who made the motion to approve the extra funding today, has said in the past he supports it as an additional tourist attraction for the downtown.
unreal, we have people starving out here on the streets and this is where they feel the money is best served.
The Mayor is delusional. Sick.
Councilman Stavros Anthony is a hero
Goodman is a self indulgent delusional fool.
And you guys elected him! LOL
He's not always delusional. But he seems to be on this particular issue. I would totally have a drink with the guy, I just want him to face facts and divert the money from this BS project to some real issues. Sincerely, Joe Tax Payer
(this is the part where Brian Paco reminds us how great museums are)
The Tower of London, big tourist attraction as is Alcatraz in SF Bay Area, This is great, and Gingrich and Sean Inssanity should know that Fed money went to pay for this, redevelopment or whatever, so ha ha ha
"If the mob wants a museum let them pay for it"
Newt (married and divorced 3X family values Champion)
Too bad for Goodman and the mob museum that a privately funded mob exhibit will open first and in a better location (on the Strip).
Given the choice of Strip vs. downtown, I think its obvious where the majority of traffic and dollars will go. I love downtown, but it can't beat out the Strip.
The second line of the headline should be (if they know what's good for em). I can't wait for the groundbreaking for the OJ Simpson Battered Womens Shelter and the Michael Jackson Museum of Pedophilia.
I hope that they include a display of the recent night club skimming, robbing patrons, and tax evasion. It might remind businesses to not start into that again (if it's not continuing now.)
Like i said in my earlier post...see below. This change order is 16% of the original contract value. they are getting close to the 20 to 25% i said we the tax payer would see in increases.
By QualityGC
9/28/09 at 4:40 p.m.
Suggest removal
The city first solicited bids for that job in September. Flagship Construction was the low bidder, but APCO Construction challenged the award, claiming Flagship wasn't qualified to do historical renovations.
1) NEITHER WAS OR IS A QUALIFIED CONTRACT TO DO THIS JOB...THAT'S A FACT. THEY DON'T HAVE THE JOB HISTORY OR STAFF WITH THE PROPER REQUIREMENTS THAT THE SPECIFICATIONS CALLED FOR!
1 APCO CONSTRUCTION $11,512,000
2 FLAGSHIP $12,664,629
3 JAYNES CORPORATION $12,680,446
4 R & O CONSTRUCTION $13,129,569
5 RAFEAL CONSTRUCTION $13,555,000
6 MARTIN HARRIS $13,915,922
7 MCCARTHY $14,462,808
8 RICHARDSON $14,799,000
Rainey's team then sought a new round of bidding with more detailed specifications. APCO won as the lowest bidder found also to be "responsive and responsible." Flagship protested, claiming, among other things, that the first round of bids should not have been thrown out.
APCO WAS NOT "RESPONSIVE AND RESPONSIBLE" ONCE AGAIN THEY DO NOT HAVE THE PROPER SPEC. REQUIREMENTS!!
OF THE 8 THAT BID THE #7 & #6 ARE QUALIFIED AND EVEN THE #3 BIDDER. THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN A CM AT RISK JOB BASED ON COMPANY QUALIFICATIONS AND PAST HISTORY NOT A HARD BID JOB.
TAX PAYERS EXPECT TO SEE A 25% - 20% INCREASE IN COST FROM CHANGE ORDERS.
LOOK AT HOW MUCH THEY LOW BALLED THIS JOB. IT'S 10% LOW ($1,152,629)
It would appear the Mob is still running Las Vegas reicarnated in the form of the City Council.